Well, I have been running around with my dead cut off, LOL.. anyways, I have tried and tried again to find out on how much money would it take to get started on a first year haunt. I am looking to go pro haunt very soon.

Now you don't have to tell me on here but you can tell PM me if you would like. All i am asking is the avarage start up cost. If you want you can tell me how much you had when you started.

This way i can tell my investors or a bank how much i will need. This will help me out on my papers to show them.

There is a thead a little down this page called first year or something like that to read. Started by naborhood haunts.

Another fabulous post from the U.S.Department of Wild Imaginings, now in spectaclar stereo, sponsored by the Adhesives and Sealants Council, suggesting ways to stick things together since the 1800s. Not fabulous in a gay way. Your results may vary. Illinois residents add 8% sales tax. These posts have been made by professional post makers, do not try this type of posting on your own without extensive training, lovely assistants and a trusty clown horn.

I dont think there is an average, nothing is average about this industry. Ithink Larry would say around $200,000 and I would say around $10 to 20,000. Im a huge fan of starting small and letting your customers determine your growth it helps to keep you out of the poor house for the first five years of your show.
so based on just those two figures the average is $105,000. Keep it simple and kep it cheap. In both of my dollar figures 1/2 of the dollar amount is for advertising if you spend five on the show then spend five on the advertising. That helps to do two things. Get people to your show #1 and not over promise on your show.
Allen H

I am looking year one right now and my budget is in the $20,000 - $30,000 range. What I did was set myself a budget floor of $20,000 and then have available another $10,000 in case something goes to hell. For me this is the third year, second serious year I am attempting. Property has been the challenge. As of now property seems to be working out and without it being more than 1/3 of my budget. My event size was decided to be 3,000 sq. ft. and we listed out rooms based on items we had. Up front I should say I picked up three rooms and a vortex tunnel at auction and I have worked with events for over 10 years. My wife and I are both involved and we tend to ‘collect’ things like old clothing for costumes, victrola, 1920’s baby carriages, furniture, wedding dresses, junk of the right period to haunt it. So before my $20,000 budget we had 15 costumes on a rack in the basement (about 30 in storage), about a dozen sock masks, some various props, and the auction items I mentioned. I had enough junk to put on a weekend haunted trail two years ago after being given just 4 weeks notice. So I have a collection of actor things….. I looked at all this and thought of it as sitting on the start of better than a Jaycees haunt and letting it rot in a warehouse. I basically set myself a few goals, and we will see if we can meet them. Honestly my primary goal is to make back my entire initial investment in year one and be free to walk away ...OR... double the event for year two. My second goal is to within my budget give people a show they can talk about. All I can say to that point is I will hand select and pay my key actors. They will, or will not, make the show great. Might be a little too much to expect…… we will see.

You can save a good chunk of money by using social media too. For a couple hundred you could have a really nice FB business page with a sick landing page. Being as your updates will be seen on people's pages it will get others curious too. If you have something cool to look at it'll get more word of mouth.

dr0zombie, i am too in the same boat, i have been tossing the numbers around that same budget. for me i have been thinking about doing a outside haunt. due to the ideas i have going on. whats costing me the most is the wood. I also been looking in to the web aka Facebook, myspace, ( not so much) and so on.. The big deal i had going on was that i have been talking to other haunt owners in my area and they don't want any thing to do with me. For one, i have talk to the owners i work with every year. They really don't know that i am going to start one. If i did told them then most likey they will fire me right then and there. I have been more of a watcher and seeing on how they do things at there haunt. another one they try hard to keep other haunt away. They where able to shut down one in there first year.